Orc
The savage, green-skinned Orcs are one of the most prolific races of Azeroth. They are commonly believed to be brutal and mindless, possessing no humanity or empathy for other races. Born on the now hellish world of Draenor, the Orcs were brought into the kingdom of Stormwind through the dimensional gateway known as the Dark Portal and forced to wage war on the Humans. Although few are aware of their history, the Orcs once cultivated a noble, Shamanistic society on the world of Draenor. Tragically, the proud Orc clans were corrupted by the Burning Legion and used as pawns in the Legion's invasion of Azeroth. The Orcs managed to rebel, however, and they were ultimately able to help turn the tide against their demon masters. Led by the young Warchief Thrall, the Orcs have reclaimed their strength and honor. The orcs moved from the Eastern Kingdoms to Kalimdor, and founded the nation of Durotar. Now, the Orcs stand ready to fight not for the sake of conquest, but for their very right of survival in their adopted world. Capital City: Orgrimmar =Gameplay= Starting Attributes Racial Traits Classes Orcish characters may play as a Hunter, Rogue, Shaman, Warlock or Warrior. = History = The orcs of Draenor had lived in a noble shamanistic society, cultivating the lands on their dusty world of Draenor for over 5000 years. They lived in peace with both the Ogre and the Draenei. However, some 80 years ago, the respected shaman Ner'zhul, in a bid for power, struck a bargain with the powerful demon lord Kil'jaeden. In exchange for their service to the Burning Legion, Ner'zhul and all orcs would receive the power necessary to conqure vast new lands. To obtain this power, the orcs would need to first drink from the blood of Mannoroth the Destroyer, a mighty pit lord of the Burning Legion. Grom Hellscream was one of the first to drink, and easily convinced the other chieftains and their clans to follow suit. With new demonic powers at their behest most shamans choose to cast off the old ways and slowly the entire race was corrupted into rampaging clans that would later be forged into the Horde. Over the next few decades the Draenei and all other indiginous races of Draenor are utterly destroyed. Completely devoured by their demonic bloodlust and without new enemies to fight, many orc clans began fighting amongst themselves. Petty rivalries would balloon into full scale bloodbaths, and total chaos decended upon orcish society. The few remaining Draenei took advantage of this and started a guerilla campaign that continues to this day. Amidst this chaos, an orc was born who showed great aptitude for the demonic magiks of the revitalized order of orcish warlocks. At only 10 years old, Gul'dan is apprenticed to Ner'zhul himself, and eagerly begins his studies. Some twenty years later Ner'zhul, no longer willing to watch his race destroy itself, betrayed Kil'jaeden and severs all communication with the demon. Kil'jaeden swears revenge against Ner'zhul, and instead turned his attention to Gul'dan who had since surpased Ner'zhul in power. Gul'dan cared little for the Horde and easily agreed to follow Kil'jaeden in exchange for even more power. Kil'jaeden taught Gul'dan how to project himself into the Twisting Nether and to commune with the dead. Gul'dan was changed by these encounteres and realized how to attain even more power. Gul'dan gathered all warlocks who shared a desire for ultimate power and attempted to the share knowledge of communing with the dead. Those who failed, did not survive. The few warlocks who survived formed the initial ranks of the Shadow Council. Through careful manipulation and intricate machinations the shadow council became the real ruling body of the horde, with the clan chiefs under their thumbs. The Shadow Council barely pacified the clans of the Horde with the promise of new lands to conquer on worlds other than Draenor. Gul'dan along with the Shadow Council began probing the Twisting Nether desperately searching for new worlds within easy reach for the horde to conqure before their blackmail of the clans failed to contain the bloodlust. Gul'dan also founded the schools of Necromancy to expand the new demonic magiks to even more orcs. One night an extremely powerful entity touched the thoughts of many orc warlocks. Gul'dan sought the advice of Kil'jaeden as to what this new presense might be, but his summons went unanswered. If Gul'dan's own tutor Kil'jaeden feared this entity then it could prove to be a powerful tool if Gul'dan could re-establish contact with it. Weeks later Gul'dan was finally successful and opened up communication with Medivh, a sorceror on some distant world. Gul'dan attempted to probe the designs of this Medivh, but Medivh's mind moved far too quickly for Gul'dan to discern much of any value. Conversely Gul'dan knew with near-certainty that Medivh was attempting the same, and did not want Medivh to gain an advantage, and so quickly broke contact. Weeks later, Medivh returned to the dreams of the warlocks on Draenor, and presented them with images of the land of Azeroth. The Shadow Council, despite the debate over Medivh's true intentions, decided to strike a bargain to do Medivh's bidding if he could furnish a way to bring the horde into Azeroth. Those warlocks not members of the council that had also partaken in the vision were killed to allow the horde to be properly prepair for a new invasion. Weeks passed with no further word from Medivh. Some members of the council believed Medivh was playing tricks on them. But then... one day... the rift appeared. Over time and much effort the orcish warlocks were able to expand the rift enough to allow orcs to squeeze through. Although their first scouts were driven mad, whether by the rift itself or by what they had seen is unknown. They were able to confirm that on the other side of the rift was the world Medivh had shown them. A small contingent of orcs was sent through the Dark Portal to scout and construct a base of opperations. The caution urged by the Shadow Council fell on deaf ears when the clan chieftains learned of how seemingly weak the humans of the area were. Bloodlust soon overcame the horde and they launched a pre-emptive strike against the most powerful establishment of humans in the area, the Kingdom of Stormwind. Lead by Cho'gall of the Twilight's Hammer Clan and Killrogg Deadeye of the Bleeding Hollow Clan, this attack ended in a humiliating defeat for the horde. Both chieftains blamed the debacle on the other and the horde polarized into two factions. The Shadow Council attempted to re-unite the horde, but could not act directly, and so they choose an avatar to act as their puppet ruler. They choose Blackhand the Destroyer as the first warchief of the horde, and under his iron fist order was restored to the horde. It was upon this event that Medivh once again made contact with Gul'dan. Medivh seemed even more powerful, but less sane. Medivh ordered Gul'dan to have the horde destroy the Kingdom of Stormwind, and make Medivh the new ruler of the humans. Gul'dan initially refused to do Medivh's bidding, after all the horde had a new target, and Medivh's usefulness, in Gul'dan's eyes, had been spent. Medivh would have none of it, he tempted Gul'dan by promising to reveal the location of the Tomb of Sargeras, the lord of the Burning Legion and Kil'jaeden's master. And so the horde destroyed the Kingdom of Stormwind. Near the beginning of that conflict the only clan of orcs that choose to reject the new demonism, the Frostwolf Clan, was exiled to Azeroth and its leader Durotan was murdered by Gul'dan's forces as a warning. His infant son was left for dead and was taken in by a traveling nobleman from Lordaeron. The Frostwolves, leaderless, fled to the far northern mountains and remained there isolated to this day. Towards the end of the First War, a surgical strike was launched by the humans to kill the treacherous Medivh. As Medivh was being hacked to pieces, Gul'dan felt the psychic trauma waves Medivh emanated, and realized his chance to obtain the power of Sargeras was about to slip out of his grasp. He entered Medivh's mind, and attempted to steal the location of the Tomb of Sargeras from Medivh in his weakened and distracted state. It was at this moment that Medivh died. Gul'dan, having been in his mind at the time of death, was thrown into a coma. When he awoke, he learned of a major powershift within the horde. Blackhand the Destroyer had been overthrown by Orgrim Doomhammer after he had learned of Blackhand's role in Durotan's death. Doomhammer was not as gullible or blackmailable as Blackhand had been, and rapidly discovered the Shadow Council's presense in orcish affairs. He completely irradicated the Council through sheer numbers. Gul'dan survived only by 'swearing alliegence' to Doomhammer, and through a promise to provide a vast undead army for the horde's use. He formed the Stormreaver Clan and began the process of reanimating the corpses of fallen knights with the spirits of the fallen members of the Shadow Council. These new Death Knights, along with other advances during the Second War, enbabled the horde to nearly defeat the other Human Kingdoms of Lordaeron, Stromgarde, Gilneas, Dalaran and Kul Tiras as well as the Dwarven and Elven kingdoms. Before the hordes victory was finalized though, Gul'dan with his loyal Stormreaver Clan and his ally Cho'gall and his Twilight's Hammmer Clan abandoned their posts and set out in search of the Tomb of Sargeras. This loss of nearly 1/3 of the horde upset their timetable as much effort was wasted exacting revenge on Gul'dan's betrayal. This allowed the Humans to rally and crush the horde. With the destruction of the Dark Portal the Second War ended and the surviving orcs in Azeroth were rounded up into internment camps. There the orcs languished and eventualy slipped into lethargy. The demon energies had run out, and without a source to replenish it the orcs fell into severe withdrawal. Thirty or so years later, the son of Durotan, named Thrall, escaped from his cruel masters and set out to find the rest of his people. He encountered Grom Hellscream who along with his Warsong Clan had been hiding out in the wastelands of Azeroth laying low hoping for another chance at conquest. Thrall befriended Grom and through him met up with Doomhammer who had escaped from the humans prison several years before. Thrall eventualy made his way to the exiled Frostwolf clan stronghold and there learned from their shamans about the orcs noble heritage and how it had been corrupted by demons. Thrall swore to rectify the situation and together with Grom and Doomhammer successfuly launched attack after attack against the internment camps to free the captive orcs. It was difficult to rouse the orcs from their lethargy, but with enough spiritual energy from Thrall's shamanistic powers he was able to revitalize them to a degree. Unfortunately during the battle for the last internment camp, Thrall's own 'home' -- Durnhold, Doomhammer was struck down. In tribute Thrall donned the armor and weapon of Doomhammer and won the battle. With the horde free again, Thrall knew the human nations would not stand idly by and let the horde regroup or settle down. Fortunately for Thrall a prophet came in the form of a raven and advised him to leave Azeroth for the distant land of Kalimdor. Thrall, having no better alternatives, captured some human ships and set sail for the new land, taking all of his orcs out of Lordaeron. Along the way to Kalimdor Thrall helped a tribe of Trolls escape from their sinking island. The Darkspear Trolls were immensely greatfull for Thrall's assistence and swore to support the new Horde. Events of Warcraft 3 With the battle of Mount Hyjal over and the imediate threat to the world over, Thrall set out to found the new orcish homeland in Kalimdor. He named the new land Durotar in honor of his father and founded the city of Orgrimmar in honor of Doomhammer. With his allies the Tauren and the support of the Lordaeron survivors under Jaina Proudmoore, he was able to build quickly. However, this was not to last. Grand Admiral Daelin Proudmoore, Jaina's father, arrived in Kalimdor (having left before the war was over to look for any surviving forces) and launched an attack against the fledgling orc nation. During the initial assault, the Darkspear Trolls lost their new home on the Echo Isles and so, with the help of the Mok-Nathal half-orc Rexxar, came to live with the orcs in Durotar. The witchdoctor Vol'jin pledged the tribe's eternal allegiance to the horde in return. Thrall, not knowing what humans had attacked him, initially suspected Jaina's forces, but when this was proven false Thrall was forced to destroy the invading forces of Admiral Proudmore. This unfortunate action irrevokably destroyed the former good relations between Theramore and Durotar. (Though Jaina still harbors little ill will) A note regarding orcish names Two types of orc names appear to have arisen: two syllables separated by an apostrophe and a simple name shorted from a longer one. The two-syllable ones- Gul'Dan, Drak'Thul, Cho'Gall, Dal'Rend- appear to have initially been only used for spellcaster, but was later exported (Gar'Thok was a Grunt colonel). The second type was highly cultural; only those with powers over the warrior could use their full name, such as Shamans and chieftans, or the orc's personal religious leader. For example Brox's full name was Broxigar, a term which he allowed only Tyrande and Krasus to use. Grom Hellscream's full name was Grommash, which Mannoroth used to address him as demostration that Hellscream was his. ©2004 Blizzard Entertainment. All rights reserved. Category:Lore Category:Races Category:Creatures Category:Humanoid Category:Horde Category:World:Outland